


The Cat's-Eye View

by atlas_white



Category: Tintin (Comics), Tintin - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-14 16:48:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1273807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlas_white/pseuds/atlas_white
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of the Siamese Cat whom Captain Haddock adopted. As a kitten, she was made to live as a simple ship's cat. But along with her master, she would rise far from her roots, and watch him change into a great and noble man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cat's-Eye View

 

 

_The Cat, Snowy and Tintin & Haddock - The Cat's-Eye View_

 

The Cat of Marlinspike was once just a ship's cat, and then just an ordinary house pet. She had risen far from her roots, along with her master. She thought it suited them both, really.

She was the faithful companion of Captain Archibald Haddock, and they had met on board a big handsome ship that had a problem with mice. But she was a well-bred cat-- picked up as a kitten at port by some numbskull sailor or another-- and did not like to chase her food.

She did not know why the humans expected her to do something about their problem, and there had been plenty of times when mice or rats would just walk by her while she rested and she would not even lift a paw to stop the rodents. She was a Siamese. Were they crazy?

That sort of work was not for her. The humans called her 'lazy', but she knew better. She was not going to stoop to that. She was not going to settle, even if she had to go hungry.

Captain Haddock must have realized that the cat was not for catching mice or rats, because one evening he spoke to another man on the ship, and she sat and listened while she cleaned her face with her paw. The words didn't all make sense to the Cat, but she heard "the Cat" repeated several times so she knew they were talking about her. "The Cat" was all the name she ever had or really needed.

And then, once they reached port, he took her off that awful ship and let her live in his home instead. It was a nice little flat that smelled like home and had all sorts of neat things in it, the opposite of the smelly, boring ship that never stopped rocking and making her feel ill.

There the Cat was happy. She did not need a lot to be happy, but the Captain treated her very well, giving her milk and food from his own plate, letting her on the furniture and petting her whenever she asked him to by rubbing against his leg or lying on whatever book he was reading. She slept on his pillow at night and woke up with him at sunrise, purring because she _was_ so happy and she knew that would make him happy too.

Then there came another change in her life-- a young man with orange hair (was that normal for a human?) and a very long coat. She was wakened by the apartment door opening, and stared wide-eyed at the intruder, caught a whiff of his strange scent. He had been running. He had been outside, and touched many things. And, there was something else, something even stranger....

A dog came through the door then. A _dog_. How horrible! Certainly Captain Haddock would tell that awful boy to get that awful dog out of _their_ home, right?

To the Cat's dismay, the dog was not sent out. He was welcomed in along with his master, and Haddock closed the door behind the both of them. Feeling betrayed, the Cat made herself scarce.

She was not sure who the young man was, or his dog for that matter. The two of them visited from time to time after that, and she always hid herself in the bedroom, under the bed, where neither of them would be allowed to go and find her. She did not like either of them one bit.

Some time later, the Cat saw Captain Haddock packing his things into boxes and started to watch him with interest from her perch on the table, waving her tail curiously. When he looked at her, she meowed and reached her paw toward him, wanting attention, not really concerned with her human's behaviour.

Haddock chuckled and rubbed the Cat's head. "Sorry, there, lassie. I have a lot to pack up. We're moving, y'see."

The Cat did not quite understand. The only thing that really concerned her was that her human was not going to stop in his strange activity to pet her, and that annoyed her very much.

She came to understand it all that evening. Haddock picked her up, and she felt content to finally be noticed again. But then, he put her in her carrier, and she felt very nervous and unhappy. He took her outside-- she started to meow loudly in protest, and hoped they were not going to see the vet.

But no, fortunately. Instead, they went to a strange house, and when they were inside, and the door was shut, Captain Haddock opened the door to the carrier and put it on the ground. Tentatively, the Cat stepped out, sniffing the air. It was kind of musty and felt very old and distinguished.

This beautiful place was their new home. And there, Captain Haddock started to dress differently, and even gave her a very nice new collar with silver bells on it. Now she had food prepared just for her, and her own silky pillow to lay on (though she still preferred her human's bed). She had all this place to roam freely. She felt like royalty, like a king's cat. Was this how her Egyptian ancestors had felt, worshipped by their masters like gods?

The Cat had always been very happy with her master, but now she felt positively blissful.

There was just one little problem. That youth with the odd hair, and his awful dog-- they kept on coming back, more and more frequently. She didn't mind the human so much, but the dog always had to come with him, and he would chase her and bark at her, and she just _hated_ it. Why couldn't the young man come and visit the Captain alone, without that nasty terrier?

She understood that the dog's name was Snowy. His human was always shouting it at him, "Snowy, no!" "Behave, Snowy!" She couldn't understand why he couldn't control the little thing, especially since he was so much bigger than Snowy.

And she came to know the human's name, too. It was Tintin. Her human said that name often, even when the youth was not around. The Cat knew that Haddock thought very highly of Tintin, and that made her feel able to trust him, too. But she didn't like to be around that dog of his, and she thought she never would.

However, as time passed, the Cat got more and more used to Tintin and Snowy being around. There was no stopping them from coming. And she eventually realized that if she didn't run, Snowy wouldn't be able to chase her. That helped her to gain the advantage over him, and as time ran on they even started to become friendly.

This was good, because one day, after another of the Captain's long trips with Tintin (which the Cat very much disliked, since she didn't like being without her human for long), something changed that was almost as big as their move from the little flat to the grand château.

When the huge front doors opened, the Cat ran down the stairs and trotted up to the door, thrilled at the idea that it might be Captain Haddock. It was! And of course, he had Tintin and Snowy with him, but she didn't even care about that anymore. Especially with her human being home.

But....he looked a little different. She tilted her head, unsure, and watched him as he came in and Nestor approached and greeted him and Tintin, took their coats. The Cat wasn't quite sure what it was, but something had changed in the Captain and in Tintin as well.

Her tail twitched uneasily. She could smell something like weakness, or illness. Had something happened during their trip? Were they sick? Were they hurt?

"Ahh, hello, there, lassie." Haddock greeted her-- at last! The Cat stepped forward with a meow, and he lifted her up and started to stroke her short, smooth fur. "You'd never believe what happened to us out there, kitty. I hope you don't mind too much, but we're going to be sharing this great big house of ours."

He looked at Tintin and laughed warmly, though he did seem a little weak. Tintin put his hand on Haddock's back, steadying him. There was a look in his eyes that no cat would miss. This one just didn't happen to care at the moment, because all she was concerned with was the fact that her human was back, _back_ , _finally_! And he would get better, yes, and soon, with the support of this young man and the Cat as well.

Oh yes, she knew. And she knew that those looks and touches confused Snowy, too, and she found that funny. Dogs were a bit slow when it came to matters of the heart (or most things, really).

Her human had found himself a mate. No wonder he had always been so taken with that young man-- who had turned out not to be so bad at all, but treated both Haddock and his cat very well, and with respect. The Cat was glad, because she understood that Tintin was family now, and so was that pesky Snowy, who had become a dear friend to her, even if he was a silly dog.

There had been an awful lot of changes through the years, but the Cat still held the special job of providing for her human a cat's quiet comfort and soft purr and big, listening ear that never judges. She still liked to lay on his pillow, but now instead of one head below her there were two, which the Cat thought was very lovely.

Captain Haddock deserved a good mate, she thought. After all, she had never known a kinder or more compassionate human, and he had always been so wonderful to her, he deserved to have a taste of the kind of happiness and fulfillment he had brought to the Siamese cat, and this orange head on the Captain's pillow was the one who could do that for him. He could give him what he needed and cherish him like he deserved, like only a human's mate can.

Each of the three of them; Tintin, particularly, and the Cat, and Snowy, had a place in Captain Haddock's life. And the Cat knew that Tintin was of course the most important thing in the world to his mate the Captain-- and she was perfectly fine with that. Because she also knew that, no matter what, there was no replacing a cat. ☆

 

 

 


End file.
